Undergarment



Jul 1, 1924.

H. B. FERGUSON UN DERGARMENT Filed Sept. 10. 1919 awuwvto'c HER/Wm 8. F23 u so Patented July 1, 1924.

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UNDERGARMENT.

Application filed September 10, 1919.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that HERMAN B. FERGUSON. citizen of the United States, and resident of the city of New Rochelle, in the county of lVestchester and State of New York, has invented certain new and useful Improvements in Undergarments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates in general to undergarments and more particularly to union undergarments having an elastic insert in the small of the back to give elasticity thereto. In union suits of this character the elastic insert heretofore used has consisted of a webbing of fairly uniform width, or of varying width, extending from side to side at the rear waist line of the garment. here the webbing varies in' width, it has nevertheless been so cut heretofore that there are a number of the horizontal wales of the webbing at the extreme ends thereof which are stretched simultaneously with the intermediate portions. Consequently after sufficient strain has been put on th webbing in the course of wear, the stretch having been applied throughout the whole length of the insert it'becomes permanently elongated throughout its whole width and the garment sags, loses its shape and no longer comfortably fits the wearer.

The main object of my invention, therefore, is to provide a union garment of the character referred to in which the elastic insert is so constructed as to prevent the garment from sagging and losing its shape by reason of the repeated stretch on the elastic webbing.

Another object is to accomplish the above result at a reduced cost even below that of the constructions heretofore used.

A still further object is to provide a union suit with an elastic insert which shall be cheap to manufacture and efficient in its operation.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the detailed description and the features of novelty will be pointed out 1n the claim.

In the drawing accompanying this specification and forming a material thereof,

Fig. 1 is a rear view of an undergarment embodying my invention, and

Fig. 2 is a view showing how my im- Serial No. 323,002.

proved elastic insert is cut from the length of webbing.

Referring in detail to the drawing, 10 indicates the upper or shirt section and 11 the lower or drawers section of the garment. The latter is provided with the usual leg portions, 12, and the crotch member, 13. A gore, 14., extends in the rear of the garment from the crotch portion to below the waist line.

The insert, to lend elasticity to the garment and permit it to stretch when the wearer stoops or bends over, consists of a piece of webbing, 15, extending across the waist in the rear of the garment. This insert is made preferably trapezoidal in form with the shorter base, 16, the longer base, 17, and the inclined sides, 18. The insert is secured at the top to the shirt portion 10 by means of the stitching 19, at the bottom to the crotch gore 14 by the stitching 20, and the sides by the stitching 21. The shorter base 16 is preferably of a length equal to the width of the crotch gore and will thus vary with the size of the garment while the longer base is sub stantially equal in length to the waist line.

The trapezoidal form of the elastic insert has many advantages as will appear from the following considerations: It permits a highly advantageous distribution of the stretch applied by the bending over or the drooping of the body of a person. As will be clear the stretch at a particular point along the lower base and sides of the insert will be directly proportional to the total number of wales above that point. Consequently the stretch will be a maximum at the center of the garment where most of the stress is applied in bending and drooping, and will be uniform over the whole width of the crotch gore along which the maximum stress is applied. To either side of the gore the stretch will decrease uniformly from this maximum to a minimum of no stretch whatever at the points A. and B, the junction points of the webbing with the shirt and drawers portions. (The variation of the stretch is indicated by the stress lines shown dotted.) The stretch along the sides being thus less than that at the center and decreasing uniformly to a minimum, the strain produced in the webbing is mostly at the center and thus the webbing as a whole can be subjected to stress for a greater period of time, and if the elastic limit is ever passed at all, the permanent elongation will be effective only in the center. The inclined sides of the webbing further provide for restoring forces which tend to make the webbing resume its original shape after stretch. This will be clear from the parallelogram of forces shown dotted and from which it is seen how the stretching force a? applied along the sides may be resolved into a component g perpendicular to the side and a component .2 parallel thereto. The reaction to the latter is a force of restitution to which tends to return the webbing to the original shape.

Another advantage of the trapezoidal form is that of economy of time and material. In cutting the insert from a length of webbing 22, I preferably use a template in the form of a trapezoid with the length of the lower base corresponding to the crotch gore width. Several templates may be provided to correspond to the several standard sizes of garment. The template is applied to the length of webbing and the lines 18 for the sides of the trapezoid crawn. The webhing is then cut along these lines. In this way a large number of inserts for a given size of undergarment may be cut in a minimum of time with no waste whatever of material.

It will thus be seen that there is provided a garment in which the several objects of this invention are achieved and Which is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

A union undergarment comprising ashirt portion and a drawers portion having a rear crotch gore, said drawers portions having at the rear thereof sloping sides extending from the sides of the waist line to the top of said crotch gore, and an insert of elastic webbing of substantially inverted trapezoidal shape having a substantially straight longer side secured to the shirt portion along the waist line and having substantially straight sloping sides secured to said slop ing sides of said drawers portions and the shorter base thereof substantially parallel to the longer side of said insert and secured to said crotch gore along the whole width thereof.

Signed at New York city in the county of New York and State of New York this 2nd day of September A. D. 1919.

HERMAN B. FERGUSON. 

